Writing Assignment 1: Externalities & Government Response

Spillover effects, or externalities, occur all around us. Some spillover effects are big enough to merit government action: policies to either provide a public good or service that the private markets have overlooked, to encourage activity that brings external benefits to society, or to discourage or prohibit activity that imposes external costs.

BEFORE WRITING

Your topic needs to be a (market) activity that not only provides spillover effects on society, but it is also something that government somewhere has responded to...and there is some documentation of all this from credible sources. [Example: danger from free private use of fireworks leads to regulations and publicly-funded displays].

The government response featured can be foreign, federal, regional, or local. Comparing two contrasting government responses would raise this essay to a higher level. Only ACTIVITIES are subject to policies, so make sure that your topic is an activity. The pandemic is not an activity and not a good topic for this assignment. Contact me with the topic you are considering or your first paragraph, and I will respond with guidance.

find at least three suitable sources of information about some market activity with a spillover effect.

WRITING

In the title to your posting state the market activity that offers spillover benefits OR a market activity that imposes spillover costs. Clearly identify the ACTIVITY in question.

Your "sources cited" at the end of your work is the first thing that I examine when I get a research essay like the one you are writing.

Identify who is most impacted by the spillover effects: summarize your research findings. Here is your chance to show you can appropriately use terms like external benefit/cost, private benefit/cost, free-rider, corrective tax/subsidy.

Identify what government has done -or should do- to fix the market failure and the ways in which society is served -or would be served- by government action. Here, a comparative look at two different government responses would be most interesting.

Include your opinion: Do you believe government has served the general public interest by its actions, or would we be better off without this market intervention? Is this a case of government failure to fix a market failure? Again, a comparative analysis between two contrasting government responses would be most impressive.